Mike Bastoli considers himself a lifelong Disney fan and total nerd. He first joined The Disney Blog as a guest writer in 2009. From 2007 to 2011, he covered Pixar Animation Studios on his website The Pixar Blog, which quickly became one of the most popular on the Web dedicated to news about the studio. (The New York Times named it the “definitive unofficial chronicler of the animation powerhouse".) In 2011, Mike renamed his site Big Screen Animation and expanded his coverage to capture the broader world of animated feature films. He retired Big Screen Animation in 2014 to focus on his brick-and-mortar family business and other pursuits. Mike resides near Toronto with his wife, Janice.
Yesterday evening, I had the pleasure of attending the World Premiere of the groundbreaking documentary Waking Sleeping Beauty (IMDb page) at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). The film chronicles the revival of Walt Disney Animation beginning in 1984 and the start of the decade-long Disney Renaissance. Without rambling on, Waking… Read More »Waking Sleeping Beauty world premiere
As Beatlemania sweeps the world all over again this week with the issuing of the band’s remastered catalogue on CD and The Beatles: Rock Band video game, The Walt Disney Studios, The Beatles‘ company Apple Corps Ltd., and Robert Zemeckis’ Disney-owned studio ImageMovers Digital officially announced today at the D23 Expo that a deal has been struck to “develop a new 3D performance capture adaptation of the 1968 hit animated film Yellow Submarine to be written and directed by Robert Zemeckis”.
Walt Disney Studios chairman Dick Cook made the announcement, confirming Hollywood trade publication Variety‘s report from last month which said a deal was in the works —news that rankled many but made me very happy.
The film will incorporate 16 of the Beatles’ original recordings, including classic songs like “All You Need Is Love”, “Eleanor Rigby”, and “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”. No target release year or date was mentioned, but there seems no reason to doubt Variety‘s claim of Summer 2012, considering the factual accuracy of the rest of their story.
Again, this is simply a dream collaboration: “one of the most exciting and anticipated project’s coming from Disney” in the next few years, as I put it in my earlier post. To have Disney and Robert Zemeckis put breathtaking 3-D images to the lyrics and melodies of the Beatles’ songs should prove to be quite an experience for moviegoers.
Interestingly, in the mini documentary included with remastered version of the Yellow Submarine album released on Wednesday, Paul McCartney conspicuously mentions Disney at least twice as an influence on the Beatles’ decision to create the original Yellow Submarine animated film (poster pictured), released in 1968.
The complete press release, with extended quotes from Cook, Zemeckis, and Apple Corps CEO Jeff Jones, after the jump.
The following is my review of the Sheriff Woody toy from the new Toy Story Collection, published earlier today on The Pixar Blog: Made by Thinkway Toys, the deluxe 16″ Woody toy (with stand) is as close to an exact replica of the character from the… Read More »Toy Story Collection: Sheriff Woody
For quite a long time now my dream collaboration in the world of entertainment has been Disney (Pixar in particular) and The Beatles. Up until now, this seemed like my own geeky idea that would never happen in real life. You would not believe me if I told you how many… Read More »Disney, Zemeckis rumored to remake Beatles classic
As I reported earlier on The Pixar Blog , Pixar’s Up (directed by Pete Docter) will be arriving on DVD and hi-def Blu-ray Disc (Region 1) on November 10. Both editions can now be pre-ordered online from a variety of retailers. The film will come in both a 1-Disc DVD and a… Read More »Up coming Nov. 10 to DVD & Blu-ray
As part of the fun at Comic-Con International in San Diego these past few days, more was revealed about the 3-D re-release of Disney’s 1991 classic Beauty and the Beast. For starters, a final official logo for the re-release was made public. Gotta love the… Read More »Disney’s Beauty & The Beast in 3D